[Review] ‘Humpty Dumpty’ First Installment

We all know the words: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall – Humpty Dumpty had a great fall – all the King’s horses, and all the King’s men – couldn’t put Humpty together again.” How unfortunate. Well, now poor, unfortunate Humpty Dumpty has returned, and he is taking matters into his own hands. Read on for the skinny…

In Billy Majestic’s Humpty Dumpty, we are immediately introduced to Pervis and Petus Brakk. If anyone has ever lived in the country, you’ve probably already guessed that these are down-home, good ‘ole boys. Well, you would be about half right; country boys, yes. Good ‘ole boys, definitely not. They are saddled up the darkest corner of the backwoods, with no sense of intelligence and a moral code in knots. When an alien spaceship lands on their property, Pervis (an echo of “pervert,” perhaps?) decides to wreak havoc on the crash-landing, taking one of the surviving aliens as his “girlfriend.” There, she is tied up and raped repeatedly by Pervis, and is eventually impregnated. She manages to escape, but in the process she gives birth to a terrifying alien-human hybrid. The name for the creature comes from Pervis’s terrified screams. “It looked just like Humpty Dumpty! Just like Humpty Dumpty, Petus!”

Billy Majestic’s originality shines through in this masterfully written debut. He hits the small-town characters’ personalities perfectly, from the simple patterns of speech to the general lack of understanding. This is demonstrated heavily in Pervis and Petus; their lack of intelligence is paired with an equal lack of consciousness, which is what makes their particular breed of stupidity so sinister. So, when something as beautiful and hyper-intelligent as the alien female literally crash-lands into their midst, they twist her life into complete mayhem. It’s not simply a matter of Good vs. Evil, though; we, the audience, share the emotions with the characters. We share in the alien female’s heartbreak when another alien is killed, but we are also frightened when Pervis and Petus are being chased by Humpty. We feel Humpty’s rage for the repulsive treatment of his mother. The characters are written in such a way that we believe them, that they are real characters.

The artwork adds to the realism of the characters with a style that is not entirely unlike a painting. You can see every wrinkle on the faces, every liver spot, and every hair on (and off) of their heads. The attention to detail makes everything dimensional, so the Humpty scenes are especially terrifying. There was a bit of a dark tone that messed with some of the more grey- and black-toned scenes, but overall, it’s not a major hindrance to the read. The gore factor is not ignored, either. Blood and guts aren’t necessarily kept to a minimum, but they are kept to a believable level. As if the opening characters are already disgusting enough, anyway, right?

Overall, Billy Majestic and the rest of the team have put forth a solid first installment to what looks to be a strongly written, original series. I can’t give away too much, but look for stronger science fiction elements in future episodes. The government always finds out. But you didn’t hear it from me.